Vij's

Vij's has quite the reputation and had come highly recommended by many. Line ups for restaurants in the 604 do not occur often. The only other place I see so many people lining up for is at Anton's!

Immediately after sitting down, the complimentary chai tea was served. I found it to be OK, but not something I would order.

Throughout the night complimentary snacks were served, including pakoras, fried bread, wheat crisps with salad on top and my favourite, the "cassava root fries." I wonder where I could order a full order of these (besides Vij's)...

Samosas-$13

filled with lamb & beef sauteed with fennel, cloves and sumac (served with naan)


This was good, but nothing great the skin had a nice texture, light crunch and fennel-y. I could not taste any difference between the lamb and beef since they were grounded and so many spices and sauce was used. It tasted like lean beef to me.
Somehow, the samosa I had was VERY oily. There was a pool of oil on my plate. Somehow, this did not happen to RamuneBoy.
Had it not been for RamuneBoy, I would not have ordered this. For what I got, it was not worth it.

Naan
Just ok, we received 2 orders of this. One during the appetizer and the other, during the mains. The first batch was very oily but the second was fine.

Pork Tenderloin -$27
on mushroom & barley pilaf with braised pork hock, tomato and mustard seed curry


The curry was pretty good with many flavors, and very light. It was too light for me, I would prefer stronger. The tomato was very refreshing though.
The pork tenderloin was a bit dry and even though they were lightly charred, I could taste the "burntness" in each bite. There was so little pork hock I did not even remember eating any..
There was a bitter vegetable in it, which I did not find went well with this. Bitter melon?
RamuneBoy liked this dish better than the trout.

Sooke Mountain Trout with Lobster -$28
in coconut, curry leaf and coconut curry


First of all, where is the lobster? There was a tiny piece of lobster on the tail and a few tiny chunks. The trout had a fishy smell so I avoided eating it. Nothing memorable about the meats of the dish.
The coconur curry was very good! I enjoyed the wide variety of spices and the curry leafs, had a similar texture to spinach soaked up all the curry and was yummy, not too salty at all.

I enjoyed this dish much more than the pork tenderloin.

Overall
Over hyped and over priced
Localized flavor, would have prefered a bit more traditional style
Excellent service
Food good but not WOW.
Free chai and mini munchies throughout the night.
Not worth the wait